Anyone ever made tea soap?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SoapMom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
221
Reaction score
0
I was just wondering if anyone has ever made tea sopa and if so, did you have to add fragrance to it or did the tea give it enough smell?
 
It depends on what kind of process - I have only done MP soap - with a range of teas - rooibos, chai, green tea etc - if you add a sufficient quantity you do get a sort of light natural whiff of scent, but not as much as if you use FO. I have started halving the FO on the tea soaps - that way I do get a distinct fragrance that blends nicely with the natural scent.
 
I made an orange Ceylon tea soap....I used the cold brewed tea as my liquid and added the tea leaves for scrubbies. I added some sweet orange essential oil to keep a bit of the scent since the tea smell doesn't stick around.
 
I made my mom some Chamomile shampoo bars - CP soap, used VERY strong chamomile tea (with two sugars) for the lye water. I added a little bit of peppermint and rosemary EO to it because Mom asked for it, so IDK if the tea scent would've come through or not. I imagine it did/would've burned off a bit. Also if I make more in the future (I better - she'll kill me if I don't!) I will dissolve the lye in cold water instead of tea and then add the tea later.. I didn't like the smell of the tea when I added the lye.
 
Thanks for the tidbits and comments. I'm interested in others experiences. BTW, how did your Chamomile shampoo bars turn out? They sound great!
 
Well I don't use poo bars, but to quote my mom:

"I just tried one! It is AWESOME. It lathers REALLY well.
Thank you!!!
"

LOL - she raves about it all the time, so apparently it's good!
 
How do you make a shampoo bar? Is it possible with melt & pour soap? I'm thinking I should get over my lye fear and start cold processing!
 
My shampoo bars are CP soap but I chose certain oils that were supposed to be more nourishing. Also the tea, specific EOs, and then a good dose of castor for lather.

I wouldn't use MP on my own hair, but nothing says you can't try!

FWIW, I started with MP and love it.. I was super scared of lye and stuff but I finally bit the bullet and OMG I'm addicted to doing CP now. You should give it a shot!
 
Hi SoapMom, I used a herbal mango and berry tea in a CP soap, adding it at trace to try to keep the scent and colour in the finished bars - no luck! The saponification process seems to kill the fragrance. If you add it to the lye it will turn brown and the scent will burn off straight away, so I thought adding it later may help, but not in my experience :wink:

Tanya :)
 
Speaking of tea soap.. I decided to go do another batch, this time for my sister in law, Pam.
She LOVES hot tea.. her favorite is Lady Grey. So I thought I'd make a batch of Lady Grey soap.

I did the same recipe as before (for my shampoo bars) since I knew it worked well. And just as with the poo bars I used an upright mold (Pringles).

What happened this time? As soon as I added the fragrance (Chai Tea), I got soap on a stick! (whisking by hand, btw)... ARGH that's my first. Irritating.

Soooo... I spooned/glopped/forced it into the Pringles can and decided to see what it would do. Yeah, it got hot and grew so a few inches spilled over.. ON TO MY HAND and now I have a lye burn on my finger. This is so not my night.

Smells good though. ROFLMAO
 
I'm sorry the soap fairies aren't being kind to you today! I hope my thread on tea soap didn't add to your misery! *lol*
 
Well I've got several batches to do tonight, the Lady Grey was #2. First batch was a tomato-basil salt bar which SO FAR looks good haha
The Lady Grey is okay other than having to force it into the mold and then spilling/burning me. Looks like it oughta set up fine though.. I'll remember to leave it longer though this time, I unmolded mom's poo bars too early (top looked/felt done but the bottom part was squishy) so they were ugly hahaha


Coming up next:

Prickly Pear (YES I'm finally doing it!)
RTCP/Whipped Mint Chocolate Fluff (my first!)
Poteet Strawberry..
 
Back
Top